Remember HP CEO Meg Whitman's comments last month stating that her company needed to get [back] into the smartphone market in order to be successful on the global stage? While Whitman is certainly open to the idea of releasing another HP-branded smartphone, it's not coming any time soon.

"We don't have any plans to introduce a smartphone in 2013, but we've got to start thinking about what is our unique play, how do we capture this element of the personal computing market," said Whitman yesterday during a briefing on the company’s 2013 outlook.

The defunct HP Palm Pre 3

The fact that Whitman and HP are still trying to wrap their heads around what makes a successful smartphone is quite troubling. Apple and Google already have the market cornered with iOS and Android respectively in the smartphone game.

Whitman went on to add, "I believe that five years from now, if we don't have a smartphone or whatever the next generation of that device is, we'll be locked out of a huge segment of the population in many countries of the world."

There's no such thing as an "on the fence" mobile user. People are either stupid enough to buy an iPhone, or they're not. People who aren't are just going to buy whatever phone looks and feels compelling from a total standpoint of features and cost.

While lots of people (primarly Macolytes) try to paint the world as either Android vs. Apple or Microsoft vs. Apple, it's actually just non-stupid vs. Apple. Non-Apple buyers are buyers who make rational, thought-out purchasing decisions. That may or may not get them an Android phone...although these days the odds are pretty good, granted what's actually available on the market.

...maybe there's a handful of people chomping at the bit for BB10, but I wouldn't assert for a moment that any significant segment of the market is "undecided" between Android and Apple and is just waiting for BB10 to come out.